Friends and Foes
by MewAngelWings
Summary: Bruce Wayne has become Batman with unexpected consequences. His life as Batman is now beginning to change the life of his childhood friend, Amber, and he must do what he can to help her. But will she become too far gone to help? Surprises and unexpected twists to come! Slight Bruce/BatmanXOc but may change later.
1. Chapter 1

**I AM ALIVE! Yeah, I'm not dead. It's amazing how I disappeared for years but now I'm back with a new story. I'm sorry to say that mu old stories won't likely be finished due to a lack of interest. Some of them I would like to completely rewrite some day but that day is not now. Life has been crazy and I'm now in college. Most of the stories I've written previously were from when I was in middle school or my freshman/sophomore year of high school. My writing has defiantly gotten better since then. I may rewrite "Seeing Double" and make a story of "Harley's Turn" but that's a ways down the road.**

 **Anyways, this story has been on my mind for the past year or so. I don't want to give anything away with this story since I want people to be surprised and not expect what's coming. If I had my way, I would love to turn this into an official Batman comic or TV series if I could. But sadly, I'll probably never get the chance so I'll make do with fanfiction for now. So, yeah, a lot of thought went into the planning of this story. Hope you all enjoy it and thanks for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not Batman or any of the DC characters involved. All rights go to their respective owners since I only own my ideas.**

Officer Gordon gazed across the room to the little boy sitting on a plastic chair against the room's dingy, grey wall. He was a small boy, only ten years old, and dressed in a back suit that still had dried blood on it. In the boy's hands he held onto the remains of his mother's destroyed pearl necklace; he was staring at the pearls with dull blue eyes, but not seeing them. His dark hair was messed out of place, something a lady officer tried to fix when she was helping him clean the splattered blood on the boy's face, but the child wouldn't let her near him for longer than a few moments.

The poor boy was Bruce Wayne, son to Thomas and Martha Wayne who built Wayne Enterprises.His parents had built a large business empire that had dealings with everything from medical care to military weaponry. Thomas Wayne had been a bright man with many ideas to help turn Gotham City into a bright Utopia from the dark and dangerous place it was. But those ideas would never see the light of day, for just an two hours earlier, both Thomas and Martha Wayne had been shot by some thug. Right in front of Bruce, to make things worse.

Gordon sighed and walked across the room, looking at the young boy with pity. Poor Bruce had been in shock pretty much since a police officer off duty had found him. Bruce wouldn't eat or say anything, all Gordon and the other officers could get out of him was a simple nod or shake of his head to 'yes' or 'no' questions. Nothing they did or said seemed to bring Bruce out of his shock or disbelief. Still, Gordon decided to try again and kneeled before Bruce. Before he could speak however, a soft voice came from the boy.

"It's my fault," Bruce muttered.

"What?" Gordon asked.

"It's my fault this happened," Bruce stated a little louder. "If I hadn't wanted to leave the show early we would've never run into that man and my parents wouldn't have-" His voice broke off as tears began to form in his eyes. No more words could come from his mouth, only silent sobs. Even at ten year old Bruce was trying his best to act like an adult in the situation.

"No," Gordon replied softly. "It wasn't your fault, son." Gordon paused for a moment to find more comforting words to consol the boy. "You didn't know that that man would make such an awful decision tonight. I'm sorry for your loss, I know you must be feeling very sad or angry at the situation, but sometimes these things happen. They're horrible, which is why I became a police officer, to help make this city a better place." By now, Bruce was looking sadly into Gordon's eyes. "Your father left a legacy of ideas to help this city, instead of mourning their loss, use it as fuel to see those plans come true. I know that you're parents will be with you each step of the way and will be so proud of you that you honored their memory by keeping their legacy going. You are a strong boy, Bruce, and I will always be here to help you."

Bruce now had tears streaming freely down his face; hesitantly, he leant forward and hugged Gordon. Gordon knew how much Bruce needed to be comforted at that moment and wrapped his arms tightly around the child as Bruce cried freely now into his shoulder.

"Bruce!" A woman's voice called.

Gordon looked up to see a thirty-something blonde woman quickly walking their way. Behind her trailed a small girl of six with blonde hair and bouncing curls. The woman had a look or sorrow and concern on her face and she finally stopped next to Gordon.

"Bruce, are you alright," the woman asked softly.

"May I ask who you are?" Gordon inquired.

"My name is Jeanette Connery," the woman - Jeanette - replied. "I am...was... a friend of Martha's before, well, before she passed tonight." Gordon could see the held back tears in Jeanette's blue eyes.

"Oh, I'm Officer Gordon, I will be on the team investigating the crime." He reached out a hand for her to shake while still keeping his other arm wrapped around Bruce who was starting to calm down. Jeanette took his hand and shook it lightly with a small smile before gazing down at the little girl hiding behind her legs. "Who is this little one?" Gordon asked with a small, friendly smile in the child's direction. Big emerald green eyes stared back at him.

"This is Amber, my daughter," Jeanette gently brought the girl out from behind her legs. "Say hello to the nice man, Amber."

"Hi," a shy voice said.

Gordon chuckled and said, "Nice to meet you, Miss Amber."

Amber smiled shyly before turning her gaze to Bruce who had now stopped crying and was staring at Jeanette sadly. "Jeannie," Bruce whimpered. "They're gone."

Jeanette looked as if she was about to break down herself as she also knelt down on her knees like Gordon and took Bruce into her arms. "I know, I know." She rubbed his back comfortingly as Amber toddled over and wrapped her tiny arms around Bruce as well. "But everything will be alright, you still have me, Alfred, and Amber. We'll always be here for you, okay?" Bruce nodded in reply, wondering if things would ever be the same again.

 **That's it for the first chapter. Hoping to really get these chapters out in the next few days since I've been working on this story like crazy. Hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter! Don't forget to Rate and Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter! Yay! Really excited and happy to finally be writing this story. Here's the second chapter, I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any other DC characters involved with this story. All rights go to their respective owners, I only own my ideas.**

 _ **13 years later**_

Amber gave an annoyed sigh as the compound she had been working on failed to react. The chemicals in her chemistry class were either expired or she simply needed to retake basic Chemistry. But seeing as she was nineteen and working in Gotham University's Chemistry lab, she really should know what she was doing; after all, she was considered one of the university's smartest students where Chemistry was involved. However, this chemical compound she had been working on just wouldn't react properly.

Recently, Amber and a few other select students in her Chemistry course had been chosen to take part in the University's research for a new type of military weapon Wayne Enterprises was funding. They wanted a liquid that could be nonlethal yet effective to knocking out enemy troops in droves without killing them. While the idea was interesting and she could see the concern in not wanting to lose troops on either side of combat, Amber just couldn't see how it was meant to work. Nevertheless, she and the others worked tirelessly to perfect the compound before field testing was scheduled to begin next fall.

"AMBER!" A high pitched voice called. Amber winced as her cousin, Harleen, came crashing into the room. She braced herself for the expected tackling hug she was about to receive from the overexcited blonde. Sure enough, not a moment later, Amber was almost knocked off her feet by the 5'3" woman.

"Harley," Amber whined the nickname. "I'm really busy right now, you can't just barge in here whenever you want!"

"I know but I'm just so excited right now I simply had to tell you what's happening tonight!" Harley squealed; unfortunately, that squealing happened right in Amber's unsuspecting ear.

"Do I even want to know what's going on," Amber winced.

"I got a call just now from Dr. Jeremiah Arkham! He's accepted me into the intern program at Arkham Asylum, isn't that great!" Harley explained excitedly. Harley was a Psychology student at the age of eighteen. She had been so eager to become a therapist that right after graduating high school she joined summer classes at Gotham University to start her path to her future career. Recently, Arkham Asylum had announced to universities and colleges all over Gotham that they were taking interns (both experienced and inexperienced) to help take care of all the new inmates The Batman had been bringing in.

Ah, Batman. Amber found him definitely fascinating in terms of mystery while Harley wanted to sit him down on a couch and try to find out why he dressed like a giant bat. Batman had only been present in Gotham for about a year now and it seemed almost every day a new 'super villain' was showing up. Poison Ivy, The Mad Hatter, Penguin, and Two Face to name a few had shown up in the last few months. A few of them were currently serving time in Arkham, but according to the media Poison Ivy had recently escaped.

Still, despite the rise in new super villains, normal crime rates have been going down since most small time criminals were too afraid to commit any crimes. It was only those involved with the mafia or completely loony that continued committing crimes. No matter how many times Batman stopped them, took them to Blackgate or Arkham, they all kept continuing their lives of crime. It's amazing how one man was able to decrease crime rates within two months than the entire Gotham PD could decrease in a year. The GCPD in a word hated Batman and how the whole of Gotham depended on a masked vigilante rather than the law. All of them had dreams or ideas of arresting Batman, unmasking him, and throwing him in Arkham where they believed he belonged; well, everyone at GCPD except Commissioner Gordon.

"Well, that's great," Amber feigned enthusiasm. "I know you've been really wanting to get into that program for months now."

Harley finally let go of Amber and sat down in a nearby chair. "Oh, it's gonna be great! I can't wait to get there and start seeing actual therapists helping the patients. I'll also get to sit in on some sessions myself and see how the doctors interact with the patients during therapy. It'll be hard to keep myself from wanting to act like a real doctor, ya know, and interview the patients. But still, if I want to secure a future job there now I'll need to be on my best behavior!"

While Harley rattled on Amber went back to her notes. Changing a few things here and there she only offered a couple 'mhmms' and 'uh-huhs' every few seconds and only one actual 'yeah'

"-great! So you're driving right?" Harley finished.

Amber's head snapped up in response to see Harley leaning over the other side of the desk smiling expectantly at her.

"What?"

"You just said 'yeah' you'll come with come with me to the intern interview tonight." Harley reminded.

"Oh," Amber sighed. "Why do you need me to come with? You can go yourself since it's your interview, Harley."

"I know, but we don't get to hang out much now that you're working on this project for Wayne Enterprises. I missed you," Harley pouted. "Plus, I'm really nervous about it and I would like to have some support there for me since my folks are back in New York and Aunt Jeannie is dead."

Amber sighed once more, her mother had passed during her Junior year of high school. Jeanette was like a second mother to Harley since Harley's parent's had shipped her to Gotham at the age of thirteen to live with Jeanette and Amber. Both Amber and Harley very much felt the loss still. Amber knew that she was currently Harley's only support system here in Gotham.

"Fine," Amber caved. "I'll take you tonight. We can get dinner after, or something."

Harley squealed in delight before leaning over and once again embracing Amber in a hug. "You're the best1 My interview is at six so pick me up at 4:30 so we can beat traffic and have plenty of time to spare." Harley then let go of Amber and skipped over to the door with a final wave of goodbye.

Amber smiled, "Sweet kid."

A few minutes later Professor Baker walked in with none other than Bruce Wayne. While the other students (especially the female ones) gawked over him, Amber kept her distance. Knowing Bruce while growing up made the whole "fame" thing seem silly. He was just a normal human being, his parents were just really good at business and at making said business grow. However, despite their childhood friendship, both Amber and Bruce had grown apart in recent years. It made sense, Amber was finishing high school and entering college while Bruce had disappeared for a few years to "find himself." When he returned, he was running Wayne Enterprises as well as obviously enjoying the inheritance his folks left for him.

It wasn't that Amber was mad at him or that she disliked his parents, it wasn't even that he wasn't an intelligent guy, she just hated seeing him waste his life away with one girl after the next, fancy cars, and parties. So much potential, if only he truly focused on helping his father's company grow rather than leaving it to be run by others who were, to be honest, a little questionable.

Despite Amber's distance from the crowd surrounding him, Bruce still easily was able to lock eyes with her from across the room. He smiled at he and Amber returned it with an amused smile of her own. Bruce certainly had become a handsome young man. At twenty three years old, Bruce had filled out nicely in the muscle department, while his features became less boyish and more chiseled. Add his dark hair and stunning blue eyes and every woman in Gotham was falling at his feet.

"Ah, Amber," Prof. Baker called. "Mr. Wayne, I'm sure you're familiar with Amber Connery." Prof. Baker led Bruce over to where Amber was standing and the two shook hands.

"Yes, Amber and I have met before." Bruce smiled.

"Great! Well then, since you really don't need an introduction I'll go ahead and let Miss Connery give you a summary of what we have so far."

"Well," Amber started. "We haven't much further since Mr. Fox came last month to check our progress." Prof. Baker visibly paled in nervousness at Amber's blunt statement while Bruce appeared to be listening a bit more. "We've been having some problems with getting the mixture of the chemicals right but so far we've come up with a very strange reaction."

Amber led them to some test tubes, a few red and blue liquids here and there in the beakers along with some purples, but one stood out: a bright green liquid. Amber quickly put on a pair of gloves and goggles while handing some to Bruce and Prof. Baker. Taking a pair of tongs from a nearby tray she dipped the tongs into the green chemical. The reaction was immediate as the part of the tongs dipped in the liquid seemed to immediately melt away.

"Obviously, it's not physically ready to be tested in the field yet since it'll eat away at skin and muscle rather quickly. We're still trying to find ways to make it less acidic so that it won't harm the human body. The military is trying to reduce deaths, not cause more of them." Amber chuckled darkly. Bruce gave a slight chuckle of his own as Amber removed what was left of the tongs and throw them away. "But it's not only that that's been causing us problems." Amber continued.

"We tried to see if maybe since as a solid the chemical was too dangerous to use upon skin contact we could maybe see if it could be used as a gas instead. This didn't have favorable results either since the test rats began acting very... odd once they were exposed." Amber explained. She led them over to an area in the room that had a rather large cage for the lab rats. Inside two rats scurried about, however one of them seemed to be shuddering every once in a while.

"What happened when you exposed the rats?" Bruce asked.

"The one shuddering is the one that was exposed while the other hasn't been exposed to anything. We can't tell for certain but the brain activity seems to be on overdrive in certain areas while shutting down in others. It hasn't killed the rat yet, but I don't see it living for much longer." All three of them stared as the small rodent would walk and then shudder, walk and then shudder. It seemed to be breathing rapidly, too, as if it couldn't catch its breath.

"Professor Baker," Amber hesitated. "If you don't mind me saying, I can't see this project ever becoming a success; there's too much going against it and the compounds that are needed are too volatile to be considered safe to use."

Prof. Baker slowly nodded his head as he considered her statement, showing that he heard and understood what she said. Instead of answering, he turned to Bruce with a smile.

"Well, Mr. Wayne, I believe that's all we can report today. Why don't I take you on a tour of our beautiful school, however, so you can see the other departments we have to offer." Prof. Baker walked towards Bruce and placed a hand on his shoulder despite the fact that Bruce was a good two feet taller than the Professor.

"I would love but I'm afraid I must decline," Bruce apologized. "I have a lunch meeting at one that I really can't be late to."

Amber tuned them out as she gazed pityingly on the shuddering rat. What was truly going on with it? Despite the research on the rat's brain activity after being exposed to the gas, no one really knew for sure what was going on. If only they had a human test subject to see how the human mind would react...

"Amber," Prof. Baker called. Amber turned her attention towards him mid-thought and noticed Bruce was now gone. "I know you have concerns, so do I. But we can't stop this project until we've tried everything, and I mean _everything_." With that said, he turned on his heel and exited the room.

Amber slowly walked back to her work station and stared at her notes.

 _A human test subject, I wonder if I should...NO! You don't want to end up like those crazy folks dressing up in weird costumes and terrorizing people._ Amber shook the thought from her head. There was no way she was going to make herself a human lab rat just to sate some stupid curiosity. However, a little voice in the back of her head smiled at the opportunity, and laid in wait for the time strike.

 **Second chapter down! I'm really proud of myself. So far I've been feeling pretty passionate about this story and I can't wait for you guys to read the surprises that will come down the road. I hope this story is translating into writing well since, like I said in the last chapter, this story has been developing for well over a year but it's been like a movie in my head. So hopefully, it's coming out all right! Thank you guys so much for reading and thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter! Much appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone! Just wanted to thank those who have reviewed and thank you to those of you reading. I'm glad people have enjoyed the first two chapters since this is the first time I've really enjoyed writing a story. Anyways, hope you all enjoy this next chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any DC characters involved. All rights go to their respective owners, I just own my ideas.**

There's one thing you must know about living in Gotham City. It is something everyone living there would tell you: "Get use to being uncomfortable." Gotham is not the coziest city to live in and the people there know it. Before Batman showed up a year ago it was common to mistrust every person you walked by on the street, believing that every man, woman, or child could easily rob you blind or worse. Gotham had the worst crime, and with the super villains showing up to fight Batman, everyone would tell you to just get use to being uncomfortable.

Still, with that common way of living in Gotham (uncomfortable), Amber still found herself uncomfortable standing before the doors of Arkham Asylum. She gazed up at the tall, old fashioned building with uncertainty as Harley was practically vibrating with excitement and anticipation next to her. Amber once again directed her gaze to the guard granting them access into the building and wondered if it was a good idea to come along with Harley in the first place.

With a loud creak the guard opened the doors like something out a horror movie and Amber wondered if it was too late to ditch Harley and go back home. Of course it was, as Harley grabbed her hand and dragged a very reluctant Amber inside.

"Welcome," a kind voice greeted.

Both girls turned their attention to a tall woman walking towards them. She had dark skin with her black hair cut into a fashionable bob. Her kind, hazel eyes seemed tight with tiredness but nevertheless, she was making sure any and all the interns felt welcome. She stopped before them and held out her hand for the girls to shake.

"I'm Dr. Joan Leland, I'm going to be one of the doctors overseeing the interns for the program." The woman said.

Harley's smile got bigger (if that was even possible) and enthusiastically shook Dr. Leland's hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Harleen Quinzel, but call me Harley, everyone does," Harley smiled. "This is my cousin, Amber," Amber reached out her hand with a small smile and shook Dr. Leland's hand as well.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you and I'm glad that you're interested in the intern program, it's definitely going to be interesting to see what'll happen." Dr. Leland laughed.

"You mean you guys haven't done this before," Amber inquired.

"Yes," Dr. Leland replied. "We've had regular interns in the past but we've never done an intern program. But since we're short staffed currently we need to garner interest in the Asylum to get more doctors to work here."

"Oh," Amber quietly looked around her at the lobby they were standing in.

It was a nice little lobby, if not a bit outdated. The brown carpet seemed dusty as well as the ripped chairs that lined the walls of the room. The ugly, faded yellow paint on the walls did nothing to make the room seem more appealing. In the center of the room sat a large round desk that looked as if it could have at least six receptionists working behind it instead of the one receptionist checking her Facebook. Around the room sat plastic plants and flowers that had suck thick layers of dust on them they almost appeared white.

There was a time when Arkham Asylum was considered one of the best and state of the art asylums in the country. It had won many awards for treatments and how well they treated their patients, but sadly, as the crime rate rose in Gotham, the quality of work and treatments used in Arkham decreased. It didn't help that the original Dr. Arkham passed away during its spiral downfall and his son, Jeremiah Arkham, took over with little to no knowledge of how to run an insane asylum. But besides its problems, the place amazingly has stayed open for more than fifty years.

"Dr. Arkham is currently interviewing another intern at the moment so why don't I give you a tour of the facility?" Dr. Leland said. Harley nodded her head and the two began to follow the woman through one of the doors in the lobby.

The lobby may have looked old fashioned but, to Amber's surprise, the actual asylum was quite clean and technical. As they walked through the different floors Amber noticed that the lower levels had cells with a glass wall and door on the entrance side of the cell allowing you and the patients to freely see each other. The high levels, however, seemed like a prison. Each cell appeared to have no window save for the tiny, barred window on a complicatedly locked, metal door.

"So what's the difference between the downstairs cells versus the upstairs ones," Amber spoke up.

Dr. Leland stopped her conversation with Harley and turned to look back at Amber who had been walking quietly behind them. "Security reasons. The cells on the bottom floors are low security: they're the inmates that post the least threat to the staff or themselves. We can trust them not to break the glass and it helps them feel as if they're not truly trapped which keeps them calmer. The upper levels, however," Dr. Leland paused and gave a tired sigh. "They are the high risk security. Murderers with mental disorders, schizophrenics who attack anything and everyone they see, and..."

"And the ones Batman brings in," Harley finished. "They would be considered 'high risk', right?"

"Exaclty," Dr. Leland nodded. "The people Batman brings in may be, in a sense, sane and really intelligent, but because they claim insanity to the courts we have no choice but to bring them here. Since they still are very dangerous we must keep them in high security cells."

"But didn't Poison Ivy break out just last week?" Amber questioned. "If she was able to break out of your 'high security' cells I highly doubt it makes a difference where you put them in this place."

Dr. Leland's eyes visibly tightened and her lips set into a thin line. "Poison Ivy, if you remember, has ways of _persuading_ the male guards," she turned on her heel and continued walking with Amber and Harley trailing behind her. "Super villains are a lot harder to contain than normal criminals, it has nothing to do with our security but everything to do with who you can trust."

Harley and Amber gave a sideway glance at one another before Harley got Dr. Leland to change the conversation. Amber stayed quiet and glanced at her surroundings, knowing it was best to not push the subject of Poison Ivy's escape, but at the same time becoming concerned about the place her cousin would be working.

"We got a lead," Commissioner Gordon announced. He stood outside on top of the GCPD building. To anyone else it would look like he was speaking to himself, but Gordon knew better.

"Where," a dark figure asked.

"Arkham Asylum, the drugs have been traced to there," Gordon finished. He heard the swish of cape and knew that Gotham's caped crusader was speeding towards the Asylum outside of town.

It had been a crazy two months for Gordon, the GCPD, and Batman. There had been an outbreak of a strange new drug on the streets, however, this new drug had horrible consequences. The drug either left the victim screaming and unresponsive or placed them into a coma-like state. The GCPD had been working hard trying to find the person responsible for the drug but no leads had come up until now.

Unfortunately, Gordon knew that some of the cops in his precinct were involved with working part time for various drug lords to make extra money, so he couldn't trust the information on the lead to anyone else but the one man who wouldn't fail him.

Hopefully, Batman would be able to find who was responsible and stop them before things got worse.

Amber was staring into one of the glass walled cells at what appeared to be a comatose like patient. She wouldn't have even known he was alive if it were not for the muttering he was doing. She stared hard at his moving mouth trying to make sense of what he was saying; it had a rhythm to it, so it's not like he was just muttering randomly.

Amber and Harley were just outside the door that led into wing of the asylum that housed the offices for the doctors. Dr. Leland had asked them to wait there while she checked in on Dr. Arkham to see if he was ready to interview Harley. While Harley had decided to wait outside the door, Amber had gone to look around at the different patients the asylum housed, which is how she came to be standing in front of this particular cell.

"Sc-Sca-Scar-" Amber began to sound out the word she believed the man to be muttering.

"Scarecrow," a man's voice sounded behind her. Amber jumped in surprise and quickly turned around to see a man standing behind her. "He's saying 'Scarecrow." The man continued.

"Oh," Amber replied quietly.

The man was a good foot taller than she was so Amber had to crane her neck to get a good look at his face. He was a handsome man who appeared to be at least in his early thirties. He had very pale (almost sickly) looking skin with jet black hair while two crystal clear blue eyes stared back at her. There was something... _odd_ with this man.

"I'm Dr. Jonathon Crane," he did not hold out his hand for her to shake like Amber was expecting. Instead, he kept his hands tightly clasped behind his back. "You're looking at one of my patients, Mr. Thomas," Amber turned her attention back to the man in the cell. "A few months back he accidentally killed his little sister in a car crash, it drove him absolutely insane so he became my patient. Sadly, my treatments as you can see resulted in a different result rather than curing him,"

"That doesn't explain why he's saying 'scarecrow' over and over again," Amber said.

"No it doesn't," Dr. Crane muttered.

"I think, Dr. Crane," Amber turned her head slightly to look at him. "You may need to check your 'treatments' because I've seen others in this place in almost the same exact state as Mr. Thomas here. It looks a little suspicious, if you know what I mean." She gave him a pointed look from the corner of her eye.

There was something so off about this man and Amber wanted to know what it was. She was very good at sensing things in people, mostly bad things, but also some good. It wasn't any sort of power, but it defiantly did make her a good judge of character.

Jonathon Crane certainly gave off a very suspicious aura. To him, he probably gave off a very confidant (if not a really obnoxious) personality; the kind of personality of someone who could do no wrong. But that is not the case here, obviously he was doing something to his patients that justified a little investigating.

"I'm curious, Dr. Crane," Amber continued, turning her whole body to face him. "If you could show me how you 'help' your patients."

"Are you not here to interview as an intern?"

"No, my cousin Harley is," Amber nodded her head Harley's way. "I'm just here to support her, but once she goes into Dr. Arkham's office I'm afraid I'll be terribly bored waiting for her in the lobby." Dr. Crane looked at her with slight suspicion, but the slight smirk that formed on his face told her that he was considering it.

Amber was not a police officer nor a detective - she wasn't even Batman - but something was very wrong here and it had been eating at her since she entered the building. After seeing the state some of his patients were in (she knew the others she saw were his since they all acted like poor Mr. Thomas) she decided to play detective a bit. So her plan was to find out what Crane was doing to his patients, call the police if necessary, and maybe get some of Crane's patients actual help. If it turned out nothing was wrong then Amber could walk away later tonight feeling good that she at least investigated a little.

"Very well," Dr. Crane agreed. "We can head to my therapy room and I can show you the methods I use to help my patients."

"Great," Amber turned to Harley. "Hey, Harl!

Harley, upon hearing her name, immediately turned her full attention to Amber.

"Dr. Crane here has kindly offered to share with me some of his therapy methods while you're in your interview. That way I can help get a head start on how things are done here at Arkham," Amber lied through her teeth.

"Oh, okay. Thank you, Dr. Crane!" Harley called to the two of them.

As Amber and Dr. Crane turned to make their way to his office, Amber looked back and saw Dr. Leland lead Harley through the door to Dr. Arkham's office.

 **Okay, so I really wanted to make this chapter and the next chapter into one large chapter, but I just couldn't do it. I felt it was better to cut it up into two chapters (possible three, to be honest) since so much is going to happen. I know that I have yet to put a lot of focus on Bruce/Batman himself but there's a reason for that. Right now it's very important in the story to focus on Amber. I'm really proud of how this story is so far and I'm really hoping you all enjoy it. I really can't wait to get into some of the twists I have in mind but, sadly, those are a few chapters away. This may be a long story with 50-60 chapters, but I might chop it up into three different stories. I'll figure it out when we get to that point. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait but I've been trying to get a bunch of other stuff done first before sitting down and getting this next chapter out. So far it's been pretty interesting trying to get this story down on paper but I'm happy to finally be doing it. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! (Don't worry, I don't plan on discontinuing this story like the others I've tried. This story will slowly, but surely, be finished.)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman or any other DC Characters that may be involved. All rights go to their respective owners and I only take rights to Amber and my ideas.**

Looking back, this might have been a bad idea. Following a strange man down a dark hallway with no one around was definitely _not_ a good idea. Yet here she was, trailing behind a suspicious doctor who might make her as insane as the patients in this place. Curse her curiosity.

Dr. Crane gave Amber the creeps, no doubt. It was either the unfazed personality he had or the ice cold blue eyes that sent her heart racing in a bad way. He seemed to care very little for his patients which, when you think about it, isn't so uncommon but Dr. Crane seemed to almost _enjoy_ the misery of his patients.

Soon, the two came up to a large cedar door on what appeared to be the nicer side of the asylum - aka: the safer part. Dr. Crane looked back at Amber with a small smile on his face ad gestured towards the golden handle to signify that they had arrived at his office before turning it and pushing the door open.

Amber wasn't sure what she had expected Dr. Crane's office to be like. Somewhere in her mind she had imagined it to be a dungeon full of horrifying objects in jars and spider webs strewn throughout the furniture in the room. To her, it would've been more fitting for him than the actual room she walked into.

The room was well lit, tidy, and overall nice looking (she had to give him credit for that) with a large window on the far side of the room showing off the bright lights of Gotham City just down the hill. The walls were a light cream color with large, old fashioned lamps giving off a warm light while the ceiling lights gave the room its brightness. Up against the adjacent wall from the window stood two tall mahogany book shelves filled with hundreds of books ranging from everything medical to supernatural. The wooden floor was black and shined under the overhead lights; Amber walked cautiously on it, afraid she would scratch what appeared to be a very expensive floor. In the far center of the room in front of the book shelves sat a very ornate oak desk with various papers and files stacked neatly on top of it. Of course, he had to have the stereotypical red leather chair behind his side of the desk while on the other side sat a less impressive chair that looked like it came from the waiting room.

"Please, have a seat," Dr. Crane invited.

Slowly, Amber sat down in the smaller (and less comfortable) chair while Dr, Crane sat down in his leather one. Once sitting he leaned over to rest his elbows on the desk and gave Amber an expectant expression. When Amber only stared back at him with the same expectant look he sighed and gave a very forced smile.

"How are you finding Arkham?" He asked.

"Depressing," Amber stated. "The patients all seem to be worse off than they probably should. I thought the whole point to why this place was built was to _cure_ people, not treat them like animals. Behind those glass walls you have them in it makes them look like zoo animals for the public to come and point fingers at. I've never been in here before and after today I never want to come back, whether Harley works here or not."

"You act as though you expected these people to be mentally stable in here." Dr. Crane frowned.

"No, I expected them to be treated better than this," Amber replied."Every doctor and nurse here - including you, Dr. Crane - seems like they could care less about this place. Dr. Leland appears to be the only one here who gives a damn."

"Dr. Leland does have a very optimistic view with the patients, she feels it helps them. The rest of us see the patients as they truly are: insane with no hope." Crane grinned back. Amber paused her retort when she noticed that Dr. Crane's eyes looked different, sadistic almost.

"Well," she started. "That's not very fair for the patients who want to get better, is it?"

"It's better they accept reality. It's better for them to get use to be here."

"But it's not better for those who came here for help. Dr. Crane," Amber softened her voice, noticing that the strange doctor appeared to be elsewhere in his mind, in places she wasn't so sure she wanted to know of. "I saw your patients when I walked past the cells earlier, one of them I even knew before he came here."

"Oh," Dr. Crane cocked an eyebrow at this.

"He was a student at the Gotham University with me, he was perfectly fine but his doctor wanted him to come here for further testing of his worsening bipolar disorder. He didn't even know he had it, but they shipped him here first chance they got. Now," Amber shuddered, remembering the state her old schoolmate was in. "He's unrecognizable, and clearly something happened when he came here to make him lose his mind so completely like that."

"Do you fear for your friend?"

"In a way," Amber replied. "I thought he was going to be fine here, clearly I was wrong."

"Do you fear for your cousin's safety while she's here?"

"Yes, I don't want something happening to her to make her lose her mind."

"Do you fear your own safety while here?"

"...Why?" Amber asked. Was the room getting stuffy? It felt difficult to breathe and Amber wondered if she could ask for the window to be opened.

"Do you?"

"Once again, I ask 'Why?'"

"Miss Connery," Dr. Crane started. "If I recall, you wanted to know how I 'helped' my patients, my question will help you understand. So once again," he smirked at her. "Do you fear for your own safety while here?"

"...No," Amber stared Dr. Crane straight in the eye. "Because I know I have someone here who would look for me were something to happen. So no, I do not fear for my own safety."

"You should," came the dangerous reply.

Amber remembered nothing but blackness after that.

Dr. Jonathon Crane was his top suspect in the GCPD's drug cases. Driving quickly down the road that lead to the Asylum, Batman knew that he had to approach the doctor with tact or else he could end up at a dead end with a cold case. Of course, the GCPD didn't know he was investigating the case, like usual. The only one who even had a slight suspicion was Commissioner Gordon.

But Batman was unhappy with the GCPD's progress on the case and felt he needed to take matters into his own hands. All the clues traced back to Arkham Asylum and, furthermore, to Dr. Jonathon Crane. The man had a pretty sketchy past in medical school and the records on Crane's patients weren't looking too favorable either. Batman wanted a word with the doctor to see if his lead was the correct one or not.

The car screeched to a stop in front of the steps of the building and silently, the Batman exited the vehicle and entered the building without alerting anyone.

He searched the building for signs of Crane but came up with nothing. He wasn't in his office, with any patients, or even in the restroom; the man simply was not there. But upon looking through the asylums employee log in he knew that Crane did in fact come into work that day and didn't clock out yet. So where was he?

He walked silently down the halls of the asylum, looking for any sign of Crane in the rooms. Eventually, he came up to a metal door that lead to some of the labs that were used back when the asylum first opened for shock therapy, lobotomies, and more. He was going to pass it, assuming it would be empty like all the other rooms in this wing, but a soft voice inside made him stop.

Turning quickly on his heel he came up to the door and listened. A male voice, dulled by the metal door, was talking inside the room.

'Crane,' he thought.

Looking above him he saw the entrance to the vents and knew he had a way in.

Batman was shocked by what he found once he was in the vent system overlooking the room. Below him stood Dr. Jonathon Crane and across from him, strapped to a chair, was Amber. He began his plan to go in and rescue her and arrest Crane, but the scene in front of him changed.

"Well what have we here?" Crane muttered.

Batman tried to get a look at Amber to see what Crane was talking about but the way the chair was facing kept him from seeing her face.

"A little secret, huh? Well, Miss Connery, I think this is grounds to admit you as a patient here." Crane continued on. He walked up to Amber and bent down to look her in the eyes. "C'mon, you're awake, why don't you say something?" No answer. Crane furrowed his brows.

"Why are you looking at me like-" Crane had no time to finish when Batman came bursting into the room. With no time to react, Crane found himself face to face with the vigilante.

"I've been looking for you," Batman growled out.

"Hmm, I was wondering when you would," Crane grinned back.

"You're linked to various drug crimes," The Dark Knight continued.

"And?"

"And all of the buyers - as well as the sellers - are in the hospital."

"Really? Maybe I made the last batch too strong." Crane turned thoughtful for a moment.

"You don't care that I'm here to shut you down?" Batman questioned.

"No, I care. But by now my drugs have already taken their toll and so my experiment is complete."

"What experiment?"

Crane chuckled a bit. "The experiment for my fear toxin, of course. You see, I have this insatiable lust for fear and wondered if I could create a permanent fear in others." Crane walked towards a workbench in the corner of the room where he picked up a syringe with a dark green liquid in it. "I have many versions I've made. Pills, powders, liquids, but the most successful one seems to be the gas."

"You've been giving people fear-induced hallucinations?!"

"Yes, and my patients."

"You feel no guilt for what you've done?"

"I would have to admit, no. I mean," Crane grinned a bit wider. "Fear is what keeps us as creatures going. Fear is what keeps us alive. Without fear, the human race would've killed itself off before time began; it is a basic instinct. I want to show people fear, make them feel it in its purest form. Even I, Batman, have fears of my own."

"Surprising, coming from a man who shows no fear in facing criminal charges." Batman glared.

"Oh please, what more could the courts do to me? I mean, I've already done time for killing my grandmother as a teen. Prison, Batman, does not scare me anymore. You, however, do." Crane finished.

"I scare you," Batman raised an eyebrow at this. "I find that difficult to believe."

"You do! However, unlike others, I'm reveling in the fear I'm feeling right now. Embracing it like an old friend."

Batman looked to the corner of his eye to find Amber passed out in the chair. 'So why was Crane acting like she was awake?' He wondered.

"Oh yes, I had almost forgot about my little, nosy, experiment." Crane sighed.

"I injected her with some of my fear toxin. Interesting, though, she hasn't reacted in the slightest." Crane shrugged. "Maybe she's reacting mentally, though. You know, trapped in her own mind sort of thing."

By now the masked vigilante had sent a message to the GCPD with a recording of Crane's admittance to being the main cause of the recent drug crimes as well as their location. Soon, the sounds of sirens filled the air and Crane was taken away without a fight.

"Good work," Gordon praised.

"It was too easy," Batman pointed out. "He didn't fight me at all, but admitted everything. Keep an eye on him, he wanted to be caught."

While the police investigated further and interviewed other doctor's about Dr. Crane's "part-time work", Batman turned back to Amber who was still sitting in the chair, but without the straps that held her to it.

Bright blue eyes stared back at him...Blue?

"Amber Connery, I presume?" He asked.

No answer came except for a smile forming on her face.

"Miss Connery," he tried again.

Her cold stare and smile began to unnerve him. Like she knew something he didn't.

Lowing his voice so the GCPD wouldn't hear, Bruce whispered, "Amber, are you alright?"

Still, she granted him with no answer. Bruce sighed, turned his mind and demeanor back to that of the Dark Knight and walked away to let the paramedics handle her. Her blue eyes still gave him the creeps, though; weren't they always green?

"Oh you're gonna be fun," Came the deeper female voice. He quickly turned around to gaze back at her. This time her gaze had one of amusement on it. He held her gaze until unconsciousness claimed her again.

 **Yeah, now we get to the more fun ideas I've had in the next few chapters. Sorry if things seemed a little OOC but Batman is a pretty difficult character to write for, same for Dr. Crane. I had to look up more information on Scarecrow's background to feel like I was writing him even a little decently. If anyone has any advice on how to write Batman a little better, I am open to it because Bruce is easy, Batman is not. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much for reading and don't forget to R &R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yeah, I know. Long time without another chapter. Stuff got crazy with my school and I was left uninspired for a while a far as the next chapter goes. Hopefully this chapter comes out good since I'm writing it to keep the story moving and to keep this story from going completely dead. Like I said before, the story will be finished, but it may take some time to get there with my personal life clashing with any writing time I may have.**

 **Anyways, enjoy the story!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the Batman characters or any other characters from DC Comics. I only own my original characters and ideas. All rights go to their respective owners.**

Amber awoke with a start, not recognizing where she was or how she got there. The last thing she remembered was... Damn that Crane. He drugged her and she was now left with the searing migraine that was making her wish she was unconscious again in waves. With a groan she fell back onto the cushy pillow and tried her best to fall back asleep, not even caring where she was.

Silently, the door to the room opened and in walked an older gentleman wearing a black butler's suit. He had kind brown eyes with a balding head and a thin mustache. He was carrying a tray that had some toast, eggs, and orange juice on it. He set the try down on a nearby table and went to open the curtains slightly to let in a little light to the room.

Amber groaned.

"Don't be like that, Miss Connery," he chuckled. Amber's eyes opened in shock as she recognized the voice.

"Alfred!" She exclaimed weakly. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"Yes, it has been quite some time since you and your mother were last here. You were how old again?" Alfred chuckled as he set the tray on the bed before her.

"I was 13 the last I saw you." Amber remembered. "That was the last time I came over before Bruce went away to that boarding school."

"Yes," Alfred replied. "My, how time flies." Amber began to cut up her eggs. "I hope you don't mind but I felt that with the way you came here last night you might want something easy on the stomach when you woke up."

"It's great, Alfred," Amber said between bites. "But I have a bit of a mirgraine, do you have something I can take for it?"

"Yes, I do believe we have some Ibuprofen here," he said, smiling as if there was a secret joke to that. Amber ignored it and continued eating while Alfred left to retrieve the medicine.

' _So I'm at Bruce's place,_ ' she thought. ' _How'd I get here, though? I'm pretty sure he didn't know where I was and Harley didn't... HARLEY!_ ' Amber gasped as she remembered that she never saw her cousin before the freak, Crane, drugged her. Was she okay? Did Crane get to her ? Is she out worried sick about where Amber disappeared to?

"Harley's fine," a voice came from the door. Amber looked up and saw Bruce standing in the door. He smiled at her and made his way into the room. "Sorry, but Alfred told me you were up so I wanted to come in and see how you were doing. As for Harley, I gave her a call letting her know what happened when the police dropped you off here. She was freaked out a bit at first but was comfortable with leaving you to an old friend."

"How'd I get here?" Amber inquired. "I didn't really tell anyone where I was with Crane so how did anyone find me?"

"Who'd you think," Bruce questioned with a small smirk.

"Batman?"

"Apparently Dr. Crane is going down the super villain route. You were lucky that the Batman was there investigating him when I tried to make you his next victim. He handed you over to the police who brought you here." Bruce explained.

"So it was him who rescued me. Funny," Amber took a moment to think, "I remember seeing him somehow, but, it didn't feel real."

"How so?"

"Well," Amber paused again. "It was like a dream, where you feel like you but you know it's not the real you. It was like I was seeing him through someone else."

Bruce physically tensed at what she was saying, remembering the strange way she was acting when he rescued her. He thought a moment before continuing on.

"You don't remember anything else? Like who the person was you were seeing things through."

"It could've been... no, that stopped a long time ago." Amber muttered.

"What?"

"It's nothing. Just a little medical condition I had in middle school. It went away before high school so I haven't bothered to think about it since." Amber shrugged.

"Amber," Bruce said gently. "The police asked me to see if you remembered anything, something like this could be important."

"How, it's something that's old news and I don't think it has anything to do with what happened last night."

"Please," Bruce coaxed.

"Fine," Amber sighed. "Mr. Persistent." She sighed and stayed quiet a moment before speaking. "When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with split personality disorder. I would become someone else entirely at random times."

Bruce took a moment to process this. "I never knew you had that."

"Was pretty good at keeping it covered up, huh?" Amber smiled. "Mom didn't want anyone to think of me as some weird kid so she had me keep quiet about it. Neither of us liked the person I would become."

"Who would you become?"

"I don't remember much when it happens, but I know that my mother always seemed scared by the time I came around. Harley knows a bit more about what would happen since she was there the first time I... switched." Amber explained thoughtfully. "But like I said, my mom took me to a few doctors and finally they were able to make me 'normal' again by the time freshman year rolled around. Haven't had a problem since."

Bruce stared at her as she continued eating, mulling over the new information he got. It made how she was acting last night make more sense, but it concerned him how she had a spark of danger in her eyes when she had looked at him. Whoever it was that she became, they weren't good.

After a few minutes of silence, Alfred returned to the room with a glass of water and two pills in his hands. He handed them to Amber who took them gratefully and sighed in relief as she felt the Ibuprofen take effect.

"Now you get some rest, Miss Connelly," Alfred said as he took the empty glass from her. "I'll take you home after you wake up. Come, Master Bruce, let's leave her to rest."

Bruce followed Alfred out of Amber's room and closed the door behind him.

"Something troubling you, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, but I'm hoping that I'm worried over nothing." Brice replied.

 **I know, short chapter, but hopefully the next chapter will be longer. There will be a bit of a time skip in the next chapter so just letting you know. Will do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Promise. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review and I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


End file.
